Random thoughts from a few cantankerous American physicians. All contributors are board certified. Various specialties are represented here. I do not know where this will lead but hope it will at least be an enjoyable read. All of the names mentioned in this blog are pseudonyms, the ages have been changed, and in half the cases the gender as well. All photographs are published with patient consent or are digitally altered to preserve anonymity. Trust us, we're doctors.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

You have heard the rants here. Let me summarize: medical professional societies are a waste of freaking time that should shut their mouths, go to Washington and start lobbying for physician salaries. Don’t preach to me about how much you care about needy patients or how physicians should not be involved in executions or how we should all jump on whatever liberal cause du jour (more primary care docs etc, etc…) happens to be trendy.

I do my charity work (hundreds of thousands of $$ a year, seriously). So go screw yourself when you try to preach to me.

But now the AMA has crossed a line. These wusses have always been anti-boxing. (“Whaaa, he has a concussion”). Next in line is mixed martial arts (UFC and the like), and I just can’t accept that.

If we ban sports that hurt people, we would all be watching curling on Sports Center. Football: knees and heads; Hockey: backs and teeth; Running: Hips and feet… the list goes on. When did we get to be such weenies?

Whatever two consenting adults do to each other should be sacred, right? So is it so wrong to put two violent, angry, ‘roided-up cardio machines in a locked cage and have them beat the shit out of each other for my entertainment?

39 comments:

My dad told me I needed to join the AMA when I was a med student. He thought it was like the Teamsters and I'd be wearing concrete scrubs if I didnt send them their taste. I held my ground and read their shitty journal anyway for free.So I won't get a little "A" next to my name in their Obits(What respectable journal has OBITS!?!?)Funny how they threaten physicians involved in executions, but abortionists are cool. Don't get me wrong, I know Abortions, Abortions are a friend of mine, it should be legal safe and common, but don't the condemned deserve better than Bubba the Correctional Officer establishing IV access for very dangerous chemicals? If they wanta ban something really dangerous and annoying, they should start with bicycles.

Kids today are such weenies. I played defensive back in 9th grade at a strapping 125 pounds, the coaches called me "Razorblade" cause I got cut so much. 11 year olds threw beanballs with an effective speed of 100mph when you account for the shorter little league distance. Now my nephew plays soccer with girls, complete with protective head gear. At least he does get to take amphetamines to allow him to pay attention to such a godforsaken boring game. Nothing like recieving a kidney punch at the bottom of a pile of sweaty guys to teach you how the real world works.

The AMA is a useless group of ultra liberals who lobby for whatever socio-moral cause will make them look like compassionate. In reality, their freaking mission statement says nothing about promoting the well being of it's members, but rather panders to free universal health care in the land of puppy dogs and sunshine. The fact that they even made a statment on UFC shows how asinine the organization has become when they should be lobbying congress and the presidential candidates for tort reform in malpractice laws and for reform of the medical insurance industry...but no, they've got their heads up their asses still.

Don't even get me started on AMSA. I joined that waste of time my first year of medical school expecting perhaps some form of support, but I've gotten nothing besides a useless monthy magazine that focuses on cultural inequalities in medicine EVERY MONTH!

I had the honor of being the "Fight Doc" several years ago at an amateur tournament. I was amazed with the beatings these guys took and administered with nothing gained except a broken home and some broken bones. Then I realized, its the bulls and blood, dust and mud, the roar of a sunday crowd. The white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle, he'll win in the next go round. But you can't expect those fags in the AMA to understand that.

We have many people who read this blog and wonder why Docs don't have a "union" that lobbies for our needs. One that fights high malpractice costs, fights for tort reform and penalties for frivolous lawsuits, one that protects doctor's incomes and promotes quick pay statutes for insurance companies.

That would be very nice! However, our professional societies are a complete waste of time, energy, and money. They're run by liberal pansies who are unaffected by the policies they support.

Most of the leadership of these societies are from the academic side of medicine. They don't represent community practice docs since most of us don't have time to participate in the processes and aren't going to spend the money to belong to these useless left wing organizations.

Academic docs mostly watch residents work and aren't paid by their patients. They don't mind telling everyone to give away healthcare and provide free services since it won't affect their income one dime!

In my opinion, they should stay out of people's lifestyles all together.

...its the bulls and blood, dust and mud, the roar of a sunday crowd. The white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle, he'll win in the next go round.

Drackman, that is poetry and a pleasure to read! I don't like these "bulls and blood" sports, but then, I'm a girl, though I attended every one of the football, basketball, etc, games my kids played (no interest in soccer) and cheered them on.

About the AMA, et al...sounds like doctors get even less genuine support from those blood-sucking bureaucrats as people do these days from their unions. And their political representatives.

Hey, if you get a union, don't worry, it will be more liberal than the AMA. You're not missing much.

During election years, our break room is graced with Democrat campaign posters straight from the Union which "suggest" which candidate to vote for, even though I thought it was "illegal" to use union dues for that. As I said on Scalpel's post today, nurses who don't "stand up for" universal health care are routinely called unethical or immoral by union leadership.

It would almost be worth the shittier pay not to have to get the pants-sh*tting union newsletters and pro-socialism posters and things in the break room.

...its the bulls and blood, dust and mud, the roar of a sunday crowd. The white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle, he'll win in the next go round.

Why I have never found the occasion to use the poetry of Garth Brooks in a sentence,I do not know... but I loved it. Sung to the same chorus of Rodeo by GB..It's little gloves and busted mugs, the roar of the redneck crowd. The rear naked choke can get you stoked , as his eyes start to bug all out. Not much money and not much fame, but man it sure is fun. So get me a gun AMA's on the run the sucker needs to tap ouuuuuut ow-out.

You Americans never cease to amaze me! You give the women the vote and preferential admission to all forms of higher education and then you wonder why you are becoming a 'nation of pussies'. At the same time you have a warrior culture best exemplified by the ascendancy of American Football, the popularity of MMA, death sports like NASCAR, and, of course, the USMC. It is maddening to have a warrior sensibity and style of conflict resolution when the feminization of your nation has led to passive-aggressivity as being the preferred mode of conflict resolution. I do not understand you but I will continue to take your money.

Glad to hear the majority out there feel the same way about the AMA - and the like - as I do. I never have, nor will I ever, join one of these worthless societies.

I like the story of a reporter doing some anti-MMA piece who went to interview one of the UFC fighters (Forrest Griffin). He told him he would only answer questions if the guy could take a leg kick. He agreed. Then Griffin broke his femur.

And who is quoting Garth Brooks here???!! Please god, forgive them... they know not what they do.

Dr. X, you see its like this: I'm an Indian Outlaw. Half Cherokee and Choctaw, my Mom shes a Chippewa, she makes me toe the line. All my friends call me Bear Claw, The Village Chief is my PaPa, he gets his orders from my Ma Ma, she makes him toe the line. You can find me in my Wigwam, beatin on my Tom-Tom, pull out the peace pipe and smoke some, and pass it around,

I love the country lyrics. Especially The Village Chief is my PaPa. I was ring side doc at one of the MMA events--never again. I like watching but all the nagging and having to get up and check these guys out and send them to the ED knowing my buddies workload just increased-sucked. I'll go as a spectator but I don't go to listen to people bitch all night.

We're about to tee off now so call the hospital and move my appointment with Mrs. Beller (was that the name? can't remember) back 90 minutes, just snake a tube down her nose and I'll be down there in...oh, 4 or 5 hours.

1. drackman quoted garth brooks. the only lyrics worth a damn these days are in country music (yes i will allow one or two exceptions).

2. dr x reminded me that another interesting difference between the sexes is that women, in general, do not remember lyrics or movie lines. hence the anonymous commenter's mistaken attribution of that quote to drackman rather than garth.

Memorizing movie lines is one of those skills found on the y chromosome, like flying jet fighters or clipping aneurysyms. Women can do it too, but its rare. We wouldn't have the Bible or Beowulf if we had depended on women to remember the words. My wifes cut me down to once a month..I'm lucky, 2 other guys she cut off completely..

In college I had a male friend who quoted the Dali Lama part of Caddyshack. When I was drunk (quite often in college) I always requested he "tell me a story" and that is what he always told. So I have that going for me.

I hung out with mostly guys in college (maybe that goes along with the almost always drunk thing?) so although I have hardly seen any movies in my life, I know a lot of the lines by heart. One of my very favorite movies ever was Animal House.

Anyway, forgive my rambliness...I have been stuck at home with kids with the flu and am sort of bored out of my skull right now.

If you don't like the organization, don't join. There's other professional organizations you can be a part of. They can do what they want, can they not? You're free to start your own physicians group if you wish.

I don't see all the huff and puff hoot and hollar really having much of a point.

If you don't like the organization, don't join. There's other professional organizations you can be a part of. They can do what they want, can they not? You're free to start your own physicians group if you wish.

Actually, is that true - the starting your own physician's group? My son's surgeon and I were lamenting about the weeniefied state of American medicine the other day, and he told me that docs are prohibited from banning together to, say, shove out insurance companies.

Given those constraints, I have to ask Anon 10:49 what forming a doctor's group would accomplish if they aren't allowed to address the meat of medicine's problems - money and insane insurance? Seems to me that Physician's Medical Bitchfest would not be a welcome sight on Capitol Hill. Especially when they're too busy going after baseball players...

Mixed martial arts matches are often not as traumatic as they look, although of course injuries can result. Matches usually end by the threat of an injury (one fighter submits or gives up) rather than by an actual injury. That said, if the point is to prevent injuries, then ban soccer, football, etc. I think much of the disdain for martial arts by mentally ill leftists is based not on injuries but on what kind of people the participants are (not vegetarian Volvo drivers w John Kerry, "Save the Whales," and "Think Globally/ Act Locally" bumper stickers).

I agree that the AMA and especially the internists' ACP are a bunch of hypocritical,useless, sanctimonious, meddlesome, bedwetting creeps.

Don't have anything to add on the AMA vs MMA, but I have a great movie recomendation. "Lost and Delirious" a canadian gem from 2001starring a young Mischa Barton. Basically the story of a forbidden romance in an all girls boarding school. Unfortunately, Mischa is just an innocent witness to the goings-on between Piper Perabo and some forgotten hottie. Its not porn, and its a million times better than Brokeback mountain.

1) hate the medical associations with a white hot flaming passion. They work to screw up the medical system, screw their members, and practically rape the public interest.

2) I too do dearly love violent manly sports, avid hockey fan, played and now coach high school football, where like 90% of the work is basically trying to deprogram the boys and extract the aggression from them that has been squashed like a bug for all their years. ("Pain is just the sensation of weakness leaving the body, boys.")

3) Some of the best lyrics I have heard in a very long time:

Well I think I'd rather eat the barrel,Of a double-barrel loaded shotgun,Than to hear that shit they call pop-country music,On ninety-eight-point-one.Just so you know, so it's it's set in stone,Kid Rock don't come from where I come from:Yeah, it's true, he's a Yank, he ain't no son of Hank:If you even thought so, god-damn, you're fucking dumb.